What Israel Can Learn From the Arabs...
Through the early 90's, Israel was considered to be the worlds foremost expert on fighting terror.
Today, not so much.
Perhaps Israel can learn a thing or two from her Arab neighbors, as to how a state combats terror - particularly during those instances when the terrorists place themselves within civilian population centers - and once again restore her "no one messes with the Israelis"* (Passenger 57 - 1992) image in the eyes of the world.
*(OK, OK, you got me. In the movie, Wesley Snipes uses a word other than messes...)
Lebanese helicopter strafes militants
A Lebanese army helicopter on Saturday fired missiles and strafed suspected positions of Islamic militants on the edge of a Palestinian refugee camp with machine gun fire in the first air force involvement in nearly two weeks of fighting...Keep in mind that we are talking about a densely populated refugee camp, with civilians all around. Also, consider how Lebanon is dealing with all the human rights activists who are itching to get inside the area to "help":
The air force's first involvement came on the second day of an offensive the army launched to defeat the militants and force their surrender from the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where they have been holed up.
The deaths raised to 37 the number of soldiers killed since fighting between the army and militants began on May 20. At least 20 civilians and about 60 militants had also been killed in the fighting before Friday's offensive. Civilian casualties could not be determined in the latest fighting since relief organizations were not allowed inside the camp.And what of the media?
The situation on the ground was unclear as journalists were pushed far away from the military zone, and media reports were conflicting on the military's achievements the previous day.There you have it folks, the Arab 2 pronged approach to combating terror:
1) Strike the enemy wherever they are - and strike hard.
2) Keep relief organizations and the media out of the picture until the mission is completed.
Were Israel to adopt this approach, it could be the second greatest contribution of the Arab world to the Jewish People, ranking a distant second to hummus.
Labels: Arabs, Bnei Ishmael, War, Ze'ev
posted by Pinchas @ 10:55 AM
4 Comments:
At June 2, 2007 at 3:42 PM ,
shooky @ hummus blog said...
This is most interesting.
In Bney-Akiva I was taught that
"We're here because we're right - not because we're stronger". I was convinced that we are morally superior, because we are LESS cruel than the terrorist. That the IDF is better, because it has "Tohar Haneshek" - we do not hurt civilians.
And last time I checked, killing of innocents is forbidden by Judaism.
Which make me think such offers like yours simply don't go well with the principles of Zionism or with the halacha.
At June 2, 2007 at 3:50 PM ,
Pinchas said...
shooky - who are you calling "innocents"?
See here and here.
At June 2, 2007 at 9:41 PM ,
Dan in Jerusalem said...
The difference is that Lebanon is permitted to fight back by the international community, but Israel is not because the world doesn't want an independent Jewish state.
regarding shooky's point,
the call not to hurt "innocents" (an "innocent" person is Ahmed's neighbor who knows that Ahmed is shooting missiles from the empty lot next door) is nonsense invented by clerks in the State Department.
As for Halakhah, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu ruled this past week, that Tzahal may carpet-bomb Gaza to stop the kassams.
At June 4, 2007 at 7:04 AM ,
גיל רונן said...
Shooky,
I didn't know they taught that stuff at Bney Akiva. I thought only the lefty movements did that.
Imho, there are two lessons we should learn from the Holocaust:
a) don't be like the Nazis were - that makes you a sadistic butcher
b) don't be like the Jews were - that makes you and your children dead
We'll never be like the Nazis because we would never slaughter an unarmed population that wasn't trying to slaughter us. So (a) is kind of irrelevant.
That leaves (b). If the choice is between dying and slaughtering (and like I said above, our slaughter of the enemy will never be of the Nazi kind), I choose slaughtering.
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